Local government to get greater say

THE legislation restricting local government from having a greater say in development decisions in their area will be changed by the end of the year.

Queensland Local Government Minister David Crisafulli will make amendments to the Local Government Act to ensure greater planning powers are vested with councillors and mayors.

Mr Crisafulli told various local government representatives at a Smart Growth Forum on Friday local councils had been under attack.

"If I have one achievement as Local Government Minister, it would be to remove powers and hand them back to you," he said.

"A change to the Act to put mayors and councillors back in charge of councils.

"In my mind it has been a blow to our democracy that people have been able to run for public office and then been hamstrung in their ability to actually do something because the way an act has been written that treats councillors like criminals.

"The level of scrutiny on a local councillor is far more than on a State and Federal MP."

Mr Crisafulli previously told APN Newsdesk he wanted the changes to happen by the end of the year.